Holiday Treats

I'm so glad I figure out how to bake this year. I think I'm going to bake every year and hand them out as little gifts. I used up over 5 pounds of flour, over dozen eggs and at least 16 bars of butter. Baked for three nights in a row. That is a lot of baking!

However, I kept it simple and used only recipes from one book - "Christmas Cookies from the Whimsical Bakehouse" Everything I used from the book (Creamy Butter Cookies, Chocolate Krinkle Cookies, Pecan Snowballs, Lemon Crumble Bars) turned out delicious!

The recipes I found on internet (Coffee Brownies and Oatmeal Cookies were good but average). However, I did find a simple and easy to make Lemon Buttercream Frosting I found on a website for my Lemon Cake (not pictured, waiting to be decorated). It's very "lemony" but it's soooooo good!

I'm sorry, I surfed way too many websites to remember where I found it but here it is the Lemon Buttercream Frosting:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, very soft
6-8 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Splenda Chocolate Chip Cookies

One disadvantage of baking these sweets is putting on the weight. After I was informed by a friend about splenda, I tried using it on cookies. My favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe had always been the one found on the back of any Toll House chocolate chip morsels packages. I substitute the sugar part for Splenda. When I baked it, the batter didn't spread so I flatten it manually. It turn out more 'crumbly' and not as chewy. The texture is more like butter cookies and not as sweet. It was still very good.

Here's the Modify with Splenda version of
Original NESTEL Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie

Ingredients:
* 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
* 1 cup Splenda
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 large eggs
* 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

Directions:
PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

PAN COOKIE VARIATION: Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan. Prepare dough as above. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack. Makes 4 dozen bars.

SLICE AND BAKE COOKIE VARIATION:
PREPARE dough as above. Divide in half; wrap in waxed paper. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. Shape each half into 15-inch log; wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.* Preheat oven to 375° F. Cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices; place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

* May be stored in refrigerator for up to 1 week or in freezer for up to 8 weeks.

FOR HIGH ALTITUDE BAKING (5,200 feet): Increase flour to 2 1/2 cups. Add 2 teaspoons water with flour and reduce both granulated sugar and brown sugar to 2/3 cup each. Bake drop cookies for 8 to 10 minutes and pan cookie for 17 to 19 minutes.

Thanksgiving Apple Pie

I thought to end a very filling Thanksgiving meal would be an apple pie. I precooked the apples for the filling so the apples shrink in the skillet, not in the crust. It turn out crunchy instead of soggy when I bake it.

I used the Apple Pie 101 receipe from 'Thanksgiving 101' by Rick Rodgers. The receipe was little bit confusing and not too clear. So I just kind of did my own thing and became a learning experience. Like cooking it in a wok and some what did a stir fry see #2. The author also said to use Golden Delicious because Granny Smiths tend to shrink a lot and look gray when cooked. Other apple good to use included Mutsu and Cortlandt apples or you can mix it up like winey Rome and sweet Golden Delicious. Btw, the apple I used was Fuji. The apple is delicious by itself...not too sure if it's great for baking, but as you can see from the picture it turn out white and hold its shape.

1. cut and core the apples, sprinkle and toss the apples with lemon juice to keep from turning brown.

2. melt butter in skillet over medium high heat. add sugar, butter and cook until apples are barely tender.

3. sprinkle flour and cinnaomon over the cooled filling, and toss well.

Anyways, I don't think I'm going to post the recipe because I'm not that happy with the result. I'm going to wait until I find a good apple pie recipe to share with eveyone.

P.S. I had to throw in the picture of the 13 pound Pineapple Teriyaki Turkey I made. I throw it in the oven at 1 pm and we didn't get to eat it until 10-11pm! Luckily my mother made bunch of other side dishes so we had two dinners. At least the turkey turn out quite delicious, moist and flavorful.

Blueberry Pie

Like usual I found a recipe online. I never made a pie before. It's not as hard as I expected. Even making the crust wasn't too hard. I think the biggest challenge is what can you do to decorate a pie? I didn't do anything except make patterns when I punch the holes on the pie crust. Next time I will try to be more creative. However, it was delicious so I want to share the recipe with everyone.

The following is a condense version from an article by Stephani Jaworski from Joy of Baking. Makes one 9 inch (23cm) pie.

Crust:
2 1/2 cups (350 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon (30 grams) granulated white sugar
1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, chilled, and cut into 1 inch (2.54 cm) pieces
1/4 to 1/2 cup (60 - 120 ml) ice water

Blueberry Filling:
4 cups (570 grams) fresh blueberries
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar
2 tablespoons (20 grams) cornstarch (corn flour)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest

Egg Wash:
1 large egg yolk
1 talespoon cream

Crust: In a food processor, place the flour, salt, and sugar and process until combined. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal (about 15 seconds). Pour 1/4 cup (60 ml) water in a slow, steady stream, through the feed tube until the dough just holds together when pinched. If necessary, add more water. Do not process more than 30 seconds.
Turn the dough onto your work surface and gather into a ball. Divide the dough in half, flattening each half into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about one hour before using. This will chill the butter and relax the gluten in the flour.

After the dough has chilled sufficiently, remove one portion of the dough from the fridge and place it on a lightly floured surface. Roll the pastry into a 12 inch (30 cm) circle. (To prevent the sticking to the counter and to ensure uniform thickness, keep lifting up and turning the pastry a quarter pastry from uarter turn as you roll (always roll from the center of the pastry outwards).) Fold the dough in half and gently transfer to a 9 inch (23 cm) pie pan. Brush off any excess flour and tuck the overhanging pastry under itself, crimping as desired. Refrigerate the pastry, covered with plastic wrap, for about 30 minutes before filling with the berries.

Meanwhile, remove the second round of pastry and roll it into a 12 inch (30 cm) circle. Using a 2 1/2 inch (6 cm) star cookie cutter, cut out about 20 stars. Place the stars on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Blueberry Filling: In a small bowl mix together the sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and zest. Place the blueberries in a large bowl. Add the sugar mixture to the blueberries and gently toss to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepared pie shell. Then, in a small bowl, whisk, together the egg yolk and cream. Lightly brush the rim of the pastry shell with the egg wash. Starting at the outside edge of the pie, place the cut out pastry stars in a circular pattern on top of the blueberries, making sure the tips of the stars are touching. Once the top of the pie is completely covered with the pastry stars, brush the entire surface with the egg wash, making sure that it does not pool. Place the assembled pie back in the refrigerator to chill for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the lower third of the oven. Remove the chilled pie from the fridge and place on a larger baking pan, lined with parchment paper, to catch any spills. Bake the pie for about 20 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Continue to bake the pie for about 35 - 45 minutes or until the crust is a deep golden brown color and the juices are bubbling and thick. If the edges of the pie are browning too much during backing, cover with a foil ring.
Place the baked pie on a wire rack to cool for several hours.

Angel Food Cake with Chocolate Cream

I still have a lot of heavy cream left from making the lemon tart. I didn't want it going to waste so I looked online for heavy cream desserts. I found one and try it. It turn out pretty good. I made a batch of Chocolate Cream and a batch of Vanilla Cream (I switch the cocoa for Vanilla). The chocolate cream tasted like chocolate mousse.

As you can see I got carry away decorating each mini angel food bundt cakes. I didn't know what to do at first but I was getting the hang of it with each try. That was fun even if it wasn't with buttercream and pastery bag. :p

Here's the recipe.
(The following is an excerpt from the book Grill! by Pippa Cuthbert &Lindsay Cameron Wilson).

I'll never forget the day I first tasted grilled angel food cake with a dollop of chocolate cream. Nothing has really been the same since. Of course you can make your own cake if you prefer, but store-bought is the simple and guaranteed-to-be-fluffy option.

Chocolate Cream:
8 Tbsp confectioners sugar

4 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 Tbsp milk
1 cup (250ml) heavy cream
1 pinch cream of tartar

8 fat slices store-bought angel food cake
1-2 Tbsp confectioners sugar, for dusting

To make the chocolate cream, whisk together the confectioners sugar, cocoa powder and milk in a small bowl. Set aside. In a separate bowl, beat the cream with the cream of tartar until soft. Whisk in the chocolate mixture until well blended. Cover and refrigerate.

Preheat the grill or grill pan to hot. Dust the angel food cake slices with confectioners sugar. Grill the slices for 1 minute on each side until golden and grill marks appear on the surface. Transfer to serving plates and top with chocolate cream.

Stuffed Fourth of July

For Fourth of July, all I did was make food. It was fun. I haven't done that in years....have a cook out. I got a new George Foreman BBQ grill I was dying to try out. The grill was hard to clean but it does its job. The hamburger marinade turn out pretty good (that was lunch). Dinner I made Korean BBQ and "American" BBQ. They were different but both equally tasty in my book. The cook out turned out pretty successful. We were out on the deck relaxing, eating and enjoying the air show and we ran out to the waterfront for the fireworks when it got dark.

However, making the dessert was more challenging. It took waaaay more time to make than the BBQ. Maybe because it was my first attempt at making tart and crust. After the last attempt at making something from scratch, (and everyone loved the Farmer's Strawberry Cake) that it boosted my confident at trying to do something from scratch again.

I got the recipe from a big stack of cook books that I had collected. I was pretty happy to finally "use" it other than just to drool over the pictures. My Lemon Tart did not turn out as expected. Someone describe it as a soupy lemon tart but luckily the flavor was good. I made the crust too thick (they were almost like cookies). I was trying out a pie crust machine given to me a long time ago that I never used. In my opinion, the machine was too clumsy to use.

Nevertheless, the lemon tart was still a nice dessert after a big Fourth of July meal with a cup of green tea. Oh yeah, I sprinkle on the blue berries at the last minute. They were delicious with lemon tart! Hopefully next time I would improve on presentation by decorating it with assortment of pretty berries.

Farmer's Strawberry Cake

For Father's Day, I thought I'll baked a cake for my father. In the past, the cake I've decorated with had been made with cake mixes. I thought I'll do something different and make it from scratch. I want something fresh and strawberry is in season right now. Therefore, I looked online for a strawberry cake recipe. I don't remember which website I got the recipe from but I modified the whipped cream/frosting because I thought the original version was a little too excessive, and I'm glad how well it turned out.

Modified Version:
Farmer’s Strawberry Cake
Serves 10

For the Cake
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

6 large egg whites (3/4 cup)
3/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups fresh strawberries, cleaned, dried, and sliced

For the Butter Cream Frosting
1 cups shortening
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons clear imitation vanilla extract
6 fluid ounces heavy cream
1 cup fresh strawberries, cleaned, dried and sliced for garnish

Directions
For the cake:
Set rack at the middle level in the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.
Butter the bottom of two 9

-inch round or one 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan. Line bottom with parchment or waxed paper.
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Combine egg whites, milk and vanilla extract. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture then add half the milk mixture. Continue to alternate beginning and ending with flour mixture. Add strawberries and mix well. Scrape the bowl and beater often.

Pour the batter into prepared pan(s) and smooth top. Bake cake(s) about 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean.
Cool in pan on rack for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack, remove paper and let cool completely. Using a medium cookie cutter, cut circles from cake.

For the frosting:
Cream shortening until fluffy. Add confectioner’s sugar and continue creaming until well blended.
Add salt, vanilla, and whipping cream blend on low speed until moistened. Add additional whipping cream if necessary (up to 2 ounces). Beat at high speed until frosting is light and fluffy.